One morning in freshman general science, I decided to act out. Our teacher was undoubtedly ill-equipped and underprepared to properly educate urban students in a city such as Camden. Like countless other bright but bored students, looking to fit in and impress peers, I proceeded to loudly and energetically pretend to be a total fool. Just as my idiocy reached its climax, the classroom door opened to reveal an angry but stoically composed Principal Riletta Cream.

Not that Mrs. Cream had to utter a single word, as her stare deflated all my thoughtless bravado, but she nonetheless set me straight with a stern and steady verbal rebuke. My reflections on her words that day disclose a special grace in her ability to deconstruct my bad behavior while not crushing my self-esteem. As she left the silenced and stunned room, I sat alone in my guilt and embarrassment. My imagination was dominated by the prospect of a principal whose eye would now always be on me. I was right.

As I continued at Camden High School, I eventually encountered uniquely qualified teachers who awakened a sense of purpose and potential within me. These teachers helped to mold me into a student and community leader who acted according to the dictates of conscience instead of the insecurities of peer pressure. I had put my freshman silliness far behind me, but Mrs. Cream maintained a firm eye on me.

I was called to the principal’s office in the fall of my senior year. I couldn’t imagine what kind of trouble I may have fallen into or what issues from previous years might face me. By this time, I was active in political campaigns and community service. I had been elected as student body president, and had moved my student ranking from the middle of the pack to the top 10 percent. What could be the problem?

As I entered the office, I found a gleaming Mrs. Cream. She truly had kept her eye on me, watching, envisioning and celebrating my redemption as a student and as a young man. She invited me to attend an address by then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young. I did not get it at the time, but I later realized that, despite my earlier imprudence, she viewed me as a potential ambassador, congressman or even president. Just four years after a stern rebuke for my senseless behavior, here I was riding to the Latin Casino in my principal’s Cadillac to see the most highly placed African American government official of the time.

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Riletta Cream, center, gets her photo taken with Cheryl Washington, left, and Sarah Backward-Drummond. Cream was honored on Martin Luther King Jr. Day by the ladies of Alpha Kappa Sorority of Mount Laurel for their community and public service at St. John Baptist Church in Camden.(Photo: Jose F. Moreno/Staff Photographer)

With the passing of Riletta Cream, we have lost a great leader and an even greater visionary. While other visionaries’ gifts focus on spaces and situations, Mrs. Cream possessed the unique gift of seeing and encouraging the best futures for young women and men. Our daily inspirational diet at Camden High School featured constant encouragement regarding our current worth and our future greatness. As students, we bought into this enlightened indoctrination and began to govern our priorities and behaviors accordingly. We marched to the beat of Mrs. Cream’s mantra, which insisted that we always present ourselves, our school and our city “in a positive light.”

I will sorely miss the rare light that was Riletta Cream. She saw in me the purpose for which I was born, something my parents, my siblings, my pastor and others had missed. Her dedication to the ideals of human potential, growth and personal redemption are now embedded deep within me and within so many of her students. Her example is critically instructive and graciously inspiring in these times where seeing the best futures in others seems to grow more and more a challenge. My hope is that we continue act according to this “positive light,” inspired in us through the life of one of our greatest leaders.

The Rev. Tim Merrill is a member of the Camden High School Class of 1978.

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Members of Camden High School's Class of 2017 make the final traditional commencement march from the 'Castle on the Hill' to the school's football stadium located in Camden's Farnham Park. The iconic high school is set to be demolished in the fall. 06.20.17
Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer

Members of Camden High School's Class of 2017 make the final traditional commencement march from the 'Castle on the Hill' to the school's football stadium located in Camden's Farnham Park. The iconic high school is set to be demolished in the fall. 06.20.17
Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer

Members of Camden High School's Class of 2017 make the final traditional commencement march from the 'Castle on the Hill' to the school's football stadium located in Camden's Farnham Park. The iconic high school is set to be demolished in the fall. 06.20.17
Chris LaChall/Staff Photographer